“By directing the waste material and suitable by-products from across our operations and synergistically converting them into green building products, Blue Planet will truly be able to achieve its vision of ‘zero waste to landfill’,” said Bharadwaj Chivukula, founder, Blue Planet.

By combining Blockwalls technology with its existing organic, plastic and metal waste processing technologies in its portfolio, Blue Planet will now provide a complete solution to process the municipal waste stream. Furthermore, this acquisition will add to the company’s ability to facilitate the clearing of landfill sites for effective remediation.

Chivukula added: “Currently, the construction industry contributes to 11 per cent of global carbon emissions, a significant proportion of which belongs to the cement and glass industry. As countries around the world experience increasing rates of urbanisation, there is growing pressure for the industry to find sustainable and green materials as a direct response to climate change and to meet their sustainable development targets.”

Image 1: Construction of retaining wall using Blockwalls

Blue Planet’s carefully curated technologies are aligned with its core strategy to contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of development targets adopted by member nations to be achieved by 2030, and the 10 principles of the United National Global Compact.

Building out of waste

Virtus Concrete is a bespoke pre-cast geopolymer concrete product manufacturer and solutions provider with a focus on civil, groundwork and infrastructure projects. With a patent-pending design, the company provides a stacking solution that has a unique reinforced design which allows the blocks to be installed to a height of over 8 meters, almost double the height of any other block provider.

“Concrete is the most widely used man-made material on the planet today and it has a significant carbon footprint. The invention of Blockwalls is a game-changer for the industry as it not only reduces the carbon emissions generated during the manufacturing of concrete blocks by up to 80 per cent, but it also does so by using materials that would otherwise end up in landfills,” said Jonathan Quinn, founder, Virtus Concrete and inventor, Blockwalls.

The geopolymer block is made from glass recovered from recycling e-waste, construction and demolition waste and other inert materials. Sodium silicate, which is a by-product of the e-waste recycling process, is added to the geopolymer mix to make solid, robust blocks that are 90 per cent more environmentally friendly.

Virtus Concrete carried out a carbon assessment of their novel concrete block in collaboration with Lancaster Environment Centre. This study demonstrated that one Virtus geopolymer concrete mix block, can achieve carbon dioxide emission savings of 105.4 kg compared to that of a standard concrete block.

Every year, Virtus Concrete produces about 7,500 Blockwalls (measuring 1600 X 800 X 800 mm) from its facility in the UK and provides a sustainable alternative for the construction and infrastructure industries. These blocks are also a cost-effective alternative to comparable steel and soil reinforcements or conventionally reinforced concrete retaining walls which have a significantly higher environmental footprint.

Quinn said: “We have incorporated many different waste materials such as kiln ash into our geopolymer blocks, wherein the kiln ash replaces the fine aggregates in the mix. This mix reduces the dependence on landfills for disposal of municipal waste and also replaces aggregates that would otherwise be mined.

We are producing green infrastructure by saving the environment and also hope to continue generating positive social impact helping the community through meaningful job creation and skill development in the communities we operate in,” he added.

This circular economy solution is particularly suitable for countries that produce a significant amount of incinerated bottom ash and are seeking to redirect it to the infrastructure and construction industry, thereby closing the resource loop.

Blockwalls structures can be set up instantaneously without expensive and tedious joining methods. They can be shaped and designed to be used for multiple purposes such as to create material bays, segregation walls, storage sheds, barriers, marine defence blocks and material retention walls.

Bringing the solution to Asia

Virtus Concrete is the latest acquisition announced by Blue Planet, which in recent months have included e-waste and industrial waste processing technologies.

Blue Planet is backed by investors like the Neev fund, an infrastructure-focused private equity fund that was created as a partnership between State Bank of India (SBI) and the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), which aims to bring sustainable solutions to the region for inclusive economic development and environment sustainability

Madhujeet Chimni, founder and chairman, Blue Planet remarked: “With the acquisition of Virtus Concrete, and complemented by other Blue Planet companies such as the recently acquired Globecycle in Malaysia and Smart Creative’s e-waste processing technology in the UK, Blue Planet is achieving its vision of closing the loop on waste.

This latest acquisition is an opportunity for Blue Planet to provide infrastructure solutions made from the diverse waste streams that we process. We look forward to working with the Virtus Concrete team and consider this acquisition a pivotal step towards becoming the first circular waste processing solution provider in the region,” he added.

Blue Planet is a Singapore headquartered company driving regional sustainability through technology-driven and IP based end-to-end solutions, for waste management and upcycling.

Blue Planet Environmental Solutions has selectively acquired technologies and teams successful in their domain which includes collection and transportation, segregation, and processing and treatment of waste. Through technology-driven execution, the company creates a carefully designed platform for end-to-end waste management solutions. The goal is to apply these technologies across various stages of the waste life cycle to be able to complete the loop and achieve the eventual vision of zero waste to landfill

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About Virtus Concrete Solutions Ltd:

Virtus Concrete is a bespoke precast geopolymer concrete product manufacturer and solutions provider with a focus on civil, groundwork and infrastructural projects specialising in retaining walls and material bays. Recently, the company launched a retaining walls design and supply service which includes – Gravity, Reinforced Concrete, Inclined and Earth Retaining Walls.

Blockwalls are assembled and used to build structures instantaneously without the need for expensive joining techniques or intensive labour hours. Blockwalls are a cost-effective alternative to comparable steel or soil reinforcement or conventional reinforced concrete retaining walls.